Saturday, July 23, 2005

Profiling Terrorists: The cart before the horse?

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Lots of conversation on profiling of terrorists and concerns by some groups, like the ACLU, on racial profiling. I personally think it is a bit premature to be putting this topic front and center. We better start considering how, as a government, we engage in a constructive dialogue with moderate Muslim clerics and leaders of the Muslim community, here and abroad. I can tell you why we haven't done this and may never do it. It's because, as a government, we don't want to hear what they have to say. Why don't we want to hear what they have to say? Because we know they will say our policies have got to be changed. And this Administration has no interest in being proven wrong about Iraq. It's that simple. There are too many dots that are easily connected to come to this conclusion, for even the most uneducated of us. And my concern is that, even with another Administration in 2008, whether Republican or Democratic, we won't change. That's what this is all about. We all need to start speaking up and letting those who consider elected offices, especially the House and Senate, know they need to heed our collective voices. Yes we will have to deal with prevention of attacks here. And yes, we must be ruthless in our prevention tactics. But we need new strategies for prevention and new strategies for engagement with the Muslim community at least here and hopefully abroad. The Brits and the rest of Europe especially need to do this, because their Muslim community is not as integrated and many feel disenfranchised.

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